Friday, December 05, 2014

Rick Ollerman's December Newsletter for Stark House

Hello, Everyone—

Happy Holidays! As the season whips by and we all wish we could stop and slow down (What? It's just me?) and spend time with some good reading, we're going to do our best to help you out. A few years ago I read a quote by an older and well-known author who likes to sit down undisturbed with a book and read for up to six hours at a time: "Reading is serious business," he said. But it's also a wonderful way to spend your time. So, before I talk about the Return of the Black Cyber Monday through Friday and Even December Holiday Sale, I want to give a quick reminder that you can check out this newsletter--or any or our past ones--as web pages here.

Also, the offer of a free signed, numbered chapbook containing two of the essays I've written for Stark House introductions still stands should anyone see fit to place a review of TURNAROUND/SHALLOW SECRETS in a non-top secret location. Just send a link and your address and I'll send you a book....

Last bit of housekeeping, in last month's newsletter we gave you a look at the new Ed Gorman book we have coming out in just a few weeks. This features what many consider to be two of Ed's finest PI novels. I'm partial to the second one, THE NIGHT REMEMBERS, but it seems that plenty or people give the nod to THE AUTUMN DEAD. What a deal that you get both titles in the same book. Anyway, we're still working on the scheduling, but we are going to be putting out another edition of Ed's books, this one featuring two of his western titles, GRAVES' RETREAT and NIGHT OF SHADOWS. if you've never read Ed's westerns before, they're a wonderful blend of western genre characters wrapped up in modern noirish dramas. The setting may be western, but the themes are not your father's (or grandfather's) Zane Grey. If you "don't read westerns," give these a chance. What Ed does with the form will probably surprise you.

We're also working on another Algernon Blackwood novel, one of our not-so-much crime reprints. These books don't go out to our Crime Club members but many of the titles are proving very popular. These books are another opportunity to dip into another literary area where you might not be so familiar. After Edgar Allan Poe there was H. P. Lovecraft. Both men died young, but at the same time as Lovecraft, the longer-lived Blackwood was writing some of the most haunting ghost and supernatural stories in England. More on the upcoming book next time, but if you want to check out our other Blackwood offerings, you can always look here.

And now that I've kept you waiting, here's the big news of the month, our Second Annual Holiday Season. We've offered a number of sales this year, mostly in an attempt to make it easier for new Stark House readers to backfill their shelves, so I don't know when the next sale will be, but for now and through the month of December, here it is:

DECEMBER 2014

50% HOLIDAYSALE

Catherine Butzen: Thief ofMidnight $15.95

Robert W. Chambers: The Slayer of Souls / The Maker of Moons $19.95

James Hadley Chase: Come Easy—Go Easy / In a Vain Shadow $19.95

Jada M. Davis: MidnightRoad $19.95

Don Elliott/Robert Silverberg: Lust Queen / Lust Victim $19.95

Feldman & Gartenberg (ed): The Beat Generation & the Angry Young Men $19.95

A. S. Fleischman: The Sun Worshippers / Yellowleg $19.95

Arnold Hano: So I’m a Heel / Flint / The Big Out $23.95

Elisabeth Sanxay Holding: The Unfinished Crime / The Girl Who Had to Die $19.95

Russell James: Underground / Collected Stories $14.95

Stephen Marlowe: Violence is My Business / Turn Left for Murder $19.95

All books are trade paperbackI'll talk more next time about upcoming books, including two by the queen of suspense herself, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, but in the meantime, we've given you plenty of new books to take a look at already. Write a review of Turnaround / Shallow Secrets and get your limited edition chapbook. Read some vintage crime stories with Edgar Wallace. Help fill out your Stark House collection with the current crop of sale books. And by all means, stretch a little if you're a fan of beautiful and haunting writing and pick up Andrew Coburn's Spouses & Other Crimes.

So, until next time, keep reading, and if you have any questions about the subscribing or unsubscribing to the newsletter, or orders for books, just drop us a line here.